Test of English Language Learning (TELL) (Pearson, 2016)

ABSTRACT

The number of public school students who are English learners (ELs) has been increasing steadily in the United States. According to a report by Snyder, de Brey, and Dillow (2016), in the 2014–2015 school year, nearly 4.6 million students enrolled in Kindergarten through grade 12 (K–12) in U.S. schools were English learners, representing approximately 10% of all K–12 students. With this growth in the population of ELs, there emerges a need for practical English language proficiency test to accurately identify ELs’ initial language proficiency level, diagnose their needs, and monitor their language development (Hauck, Wolf, & Mislevy, 2016; Hidalgo, Sato, & Suzuki, 2015). To address this need, Pearson Education developed the Test of English Language Learning (TELL), an interactive tablet-delivered English language proficiency test. Because of its intended use for making critical decisions about ELs, its high-profile nature, and its potential impact on stakeholders, it is essential to provide stakeholders with external and internal reviews of TELL to help them make informed decisions regarding the use of the test and test scores. Therefore, the present article aims to offer a descriptive and critical review of TELL along with suggestions for future research to improve the test. It is hoped that this review not only informs language testing practitioners, decision makers, and other stakeholders about TELL and its intended use but also contributes to the improvement of the test.

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank Gary Ockey for his insightful comments and suggestions on the earlier versions of this paper. I would also like to thank Bill Bonk and Masa Suzuki for providing information about the development of TELL, along with reports of alignment studies conducted on the test.